Strength in demand a catalyst for speculative development

With continued scarcity of grade A space and confidence in occupier demand rising, developers are increasingly willing to develop speculatively and a number of outline planning consents have been granted.

HS2 continues the inward investment trend started by Deutsche Bank in 2013.

We expect occupier demand to continue with an improving economic climate and the completion of Birmingham’s infrastructure projects in 2015.

Record quarter for UK property investment

Investment in the UK commercial property sector totalled £20.5bn in the final quarter of 2014 – a 26% increase on the previous quarter and the highest quarterly performance on record.

The latest edition of our UK Investment Transactions report reveals that investment in the regions increased by 41% to £21.1bn for the year as a whole – the second highest figure on record. This is the primarily the result of the resurgence of UK institutional investors – which increased inflows by almost 30% in 2014 – buoyed by improving economic sentiment beyond the capital.

In the West Midlands, total investment during 2014 soared to £2.31 billion – up from £1.59 billion in 2013 – an increase of around 44%.